Jayne Ritchie Boisvert, Ph.D.
Dr. Jayne Boisvert, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and French, joined the Russell Sage College faculty in the fall of 1999. Her educational background has had the two-fold advantage of a master's degree from Boston College in traditional French literature and a doctorate from the University at Albany in French Studies. This latter degree included the study of French linguistics, film, history, and Francophone literatures, works from French-speaking West Africa, Canada, and the Caribbean. Most recently, however, Dr. Boisvert spent the spring semester of 2003 on leave in Montpellier, France, researching contemporary literature of France. Besides courses offered in French, she occasionally presents courses on the literature of France and the Francophone world in English translation.
Since arriving at RSC, Dr. Boisvert has revised and reinstated a summer travel course to France. Once every two years, students, faculty, staff, and alumnae are invited to experience Paris and an area outside the capital during a two-week visit. "Discover France" as the program is called can be taken for credit or simply for the enjoyment of the travel experience. Dr. Boisvert has taken students on field trips in and around the area of New York state.
Dr. Boisvert has also instituted a foreign film series that has expanded from Francophone offerings to movies throughout the world. Another event that takes place once a year under Dr. Boisvert's charge is the Haitian Arts and Crafts sale. All of the proceeds of the sale benefit Fonkoze, a grass-roots organization that helps the desperately poor in Haiti.
